Author: Sarah A Bettencourt

Tons of stuff in this episode with Reid Markel. You may have heard him in season one talking about Really Big Tree. This startup no longer exists. It now lives in the startup graveyard and Reid has moved on to a branding and digital content consultant group that he has co-founded. This company is called Amplitude Media.

In our conversation, we discuss common tools used in transitions, how the dissolution went down with Really Big Tree and where Reid is now in the #yesphoenix world.

This week I’m sipping on mimosas with Anthony Catanese, as product manager at Beeline in Denver CO. Anthony made a near-cross-country move earlier last year with his wife from Jacksonville FL where he had begun initiating entrepreneurial conversations with community members. It was here where he met Eva Baker from The Teenpreneur and Teens Got Cents and then initiated a connection between him and me.

Anthony isn’t a traditional entrepreneur. He’s a product manager full-time and more of an entrepreneur facilitator, being that he likes to be an observer of conversations so as to bring different forces of nature together. Think of Anthony as the orchestra director bringing together musical artists who can go on to create and do great things together.

Even though he’s a wonderful facilitator, Anthony does have his own dreams of starting a business and diving deeper into the world on entrepreneurship.

In our conversation, we hold a conversation heavily around Slack and other tools that have helped him wiggle his way into the Denver and DenVR Live start-up communities. We also dive into two huge tips that have helped him and can help you have more successful connection based conversations.

Consumerism Commentary was a site originally created and run up Plutus Founder, Harlan Landes. Consumerism Commentary was one of the very first personal finance websites to be founded and turned into a business. Throughout its lifetime, the blog’s mission has been to develop financially literate, capable, and successful human beings by sharing educational, entertaining, and engaging articles. The blog did just that and allowed Harlan to sell the blog for a nice sum of cash. Since then he has gone from writer, the non-profit founder, volunteer, and Adulting.TV.

Now Harlan as a retired blogger and doing things for the pure enjoyment of them can design his life in the way he wants.

So what is Consumerism? Why does it matter? How can someone achieve everything Harlan has? In this podcast, we dive into the concepts surrounding Consumerism, how to start a successful blog like Consumerism Commentary and the benefits of pushing yourself to retire as early as possible.

As entrepreneurs, we’re responsible for ALL the upfront costs. This doesn’t only include business expenses; this means health insurance, personal expenses, saving for retirements, and staying on track with paying off debt (if you have it). Being mindful of your cash flow is vital to the success of your business and the same goes for holding yourself accountable. Surrounding yourself with the right people can be a challenge, especially in the early days of your startup. Shannon McLay, of the highly successful Financial Gym in New York City, sits down with Sarah over mimosas to talk about the importance and strategies behind money mindfulness and finding the right person to hold you accountable for making your dream and goals happen.

Shannon and Sarah also talk about some of the fears we all face and how to keep your mind on the path towards financial freedom. In this podcast, you’ll find the following (highlighted below) discussed at length and made applicable to the ambitious young entrepreneur.

The mind of an artist is complex. The game artists have to play in order to be successful is also complex. Today we’re picking apart the brain of an abstract artist in Phoenix, Keri Brown. We’ll uncover the process artists go through, how to perform initial research, and how to get oneself in the public eye.

Know your style. Understanding what your artistic strength is can be key in how you portray the world around you. I like to call this “paint your brain,”

Discover your subject matter. In order to do this, you’ll need to jump into how you relate to current events, life, yourself, and your surroundings. Are you an emotional painter or someone commenting on society?

Go to school. Everyone can be an artist and only 1% of artists can make it big without training and practice. Whether you’re going through a program, college, or classes on the side, it’s important to reign in your skills and refines them.

Sometimes you just need to let the pen/brush guide you. Go with the flow.

Selling through Etsy probably isn’t a good choice. Discover where your art belongs.

Putting your art in a gallery is just like the pitch process except you shouldn’t be doing it through email. All the work in the art world is done on the ground. Get out there and walk into a gallery. Make the appointment.

Welcome back to season two! Woohooo! We’re shifting gears this season and talking about tools and strategies to help your business grow. To kick things off we’re chatting with Sarah Li-Cain from High Fiving Dollars. Sarah is the mother of a two-year-old boy, wife, and a serious game changer within the PF community. Here’s the thing about Sarah, she only started blogging a little over a year ago, has been on over thirty podcasts, and is a highly recommended writer from PT Money, the founder of FinCon. Can’t get much better than that right? Sarah has some high goals for herself in the next year and I’m excited to share with you guys how she plans to get there and how she’s made it as a blogger.

Your origin story is important. Never take what you’ve learned in life for granted you gotta be able to apply your lessons learned into a story format that connects with your readers and is authentic AF.

The dark parts of your story have some of the most valuable information. Confront that darkness and share what you’ve learned.

If you build it they won’t come. Why? You can’t suddenly write an epic post and expect your website to get traffic. You need to promote, put in the work, and leverage other platforms to help brand and drive traffic to your website.

Guest Blogging will help you build authority. You can leverage other bloggers’ platforms to represent your voice and website. But it’s not about using that platform for recognition, it’s about making another blogger friend.

Set goals that will help you conquer your fears. Pitching to podcasts to be on as a guest helps you hone in on your message and help other audiences connect with you on a deeper level.

Stop viewing other bloggers and businesses as “competitors.” The blogger community isn’t about competing with one another it’s about building a community and helping them understand the value of other voices. Your blog won’t be for everyone, and that’s okay.

Affiliate marketing and AdSense isn’t for everyone. You don’t need to use advertising as a way to make money there are alternatives. Find the one that works with your mission. Some ideas:

Courses

Podcasting

Writing for other companies

Don’t deny yourself. This simply means if you’re good at something, if you have a talent for a certain niche, you need to pursue it.

Break past cultural barriers. Yes, we still live in a world where we are judged by what we look like. Best thing to do is just continue to be yourself.

All we need is to find a way to acknowledge our feelings and seek out a way to process them.

Who cares what anyone else thinks? Move on and up from the judgment of others. Talk about what you love, pursue your passion and seek ways to make it influential.

Imposter syndrome is a real thing. Gather with others who can support you and allow you to validate yourself.

Don’t write a story just to write something. Write purposefully.

Plug and play is lazy. Yes, there are exceptions, but a pitch isn’t about writing an email and sending out mass pitches that look exactly like everyone else’s. Customize. Customize. CUSTOMIZE.

LinkedIn is a great tool, just be careful how you present yourself. On the flip side, don’t pitch someone who literally does the exact same thing you do. Don’t be a doofus.

Pitching is about laying the foundation to a new relationship.

Get rid of emotional anxiety. You’re probably thinking, “how the hell do I do that?” EASY. You simply allow yourself to feel that anxiety. Get to know it, shake hands with it, and move on.

This month is suicide awareness month. As someone who has struggled with depression, suicidal thoughts and everything in between makes this subject important. That’s why I’m releasing this episode two and a half months earlier than the rest. The young woman I sit down with has first-hand experience

Chelsea Rogers of Marlee Mae Everyday, an online fashion sensation who makes clothes for moms and kids. We discussed how her business got started and the hardship she encountered in the early months of her business getting off the ground. Her fiance took his life. It came on suddenly and out of nowhere. She hadn’t seen the signs or understood what they meant until after the tragedy.

After feeling heartbroken and nearly giving up everything, she picked herself back up and kept going. This podcast is about her story and her journey towards growing a business she and her beautiful young daughter can thrive from.

Below is the short transcript of our interview.

Sarah Allison: Chelsea, explain how you got started and what inspired your momentum into the fashion business.

Chelsea Rogers: I was a stay at home mom for about 11 months. I started to plan my daughter first birthday, but, I was struggling because everything I wanted for her party decorations was so expensive. So, I did some research on how to make it all myself. Everything pointed to The Cricut (a cutting machine). So, went on a Facebook resell page and found a used one for $50. I knew nothing about this machine, but I watched tons of tutorials and made all of her decorations! Then, I found out that it could cut a material called HTV (heat transfer vinyl) so, I thought I’d try and make her birthday outfit too. And I did so, successfully.

I got to thinking, I could totally make those similar shirts to the ones on Etsy that I love. I wanted a mama bear/baby bear shirt so bad. So, I made Marlee and I those shirts. I took a couple pictures of them and out of curiosity I posted to a local Facebook resell group and asked everyone in the group if this is something that they would ever purchase. In a matter of 2 hours, I had 98 comments on that post! I remember thinking to myself, this is something I can do! And so, I started filling these orders, making these shirts on my kitchen floor with an old iron that I found in the closet. And in less than a month, I purchased a heat press. I started working a night job so that I could support this dream.

I was selling to mainly all local people through Facebook resell pages. I had set up an Etsy shop, but, it took months and months to get my first order. I learned the ins and outs of Etsy and how to successfully sell on Etsy.

Now, I have a home office filled with machinery, computers, and inventory. And my online sales largely outweigh my local sales. And I now have my own website, as well as an Etsy shop. And my entire winter and fall season is completely booked up!

A few months ago I was able to quit my night job and now solely rely on my business. I never ever thought that it would actually be possible. And I can proudly (and shockingly) say, in the 11 months and 24 days I have been in business, I have yet to have a single item that I have made have any issues, such as fading, cracking or lifting.

SB: What do you love most about working in the online fashion industry?

CR: I love creating and designing. I love working for myself. I love seeing the look on a woman’s face when she sees the cactus tee she’s “always dreamed of”. II love being a stay at home parent. I love being able to go to the local grocery store and see some random person wearing a shirt I designed! But, most of all, I do what I do for my daughter, Marlee. I do this so that I can provide for her.

The 18-20 hour days are paying off and I don’t have to live paycheck to paycheck anymore.

SA: What’s been the most incredible part of this experience, so far?

CR: One of the most amazing things about this business is the little experiences I get to have. I get to often be the first person to know that someone’s pregnant because I’m making a onesie so they can tell their husband. I often get to know the gender, even before the mother knows. And there was a mom that emailed me asking if I could make a shirt with a twins names, the twins were stillborn and make her a rainbow baby onesie (a baby that is born after a miscarriage or stillbirth) even though she was not yet pregnant, but going through the fertility treatments.

The look on her face when she opened her order at my front door and cried hugging me. I get to be that person that not only designs something special for someone, but I also get to witness how much it means to them. But with the heartwarming experiences, there is also the experiences that hit me really hard and sometimes leave me in a dark place. I have a few shirts that are for suicide awareness and the proceeds go to a non-profit.

A lot of people know my story and the hell I’ve gone through the past 6 months. And when people buy the suicide awareness shirts, they often open up to me about how they just lost their son, brother, sister, dad, mom, daughter or best friend to suicide. But, I am blessed with being able to be strong enough to be there and listen to their story. I do this for all those tender and insanely raw emotional moments and I do this for my daughter.

SA: You’ve been running this business since a little before Marlee’s first birthday and she just turned two; At what point in time did you feel successful? How did you know what you were doing was working?

CR: Well, there’s been a ton of ups and downs in this past year. but, the moment I felt most successful was about 6 months ago. This is going to sound so strange. But, 5 1/2 months ago I lost my best friend, my fiancé, the love of my life and Marlee’s dad. We lost him to suicide on the morning of my 26th birthday. I wanted to quit. I wanted to just throw everything in the dumpster. It was a really dark time for me and I was dealing with depression, becoming a single parent, losing Kip, losing my entire support system. My daughter and I literally lost everything. Our home, our belongings, his belongings.

I wanted to quit. I wanted to just throw everything in the dumpster.

It was a really dark time for me and I was dealing with depression, becoming a single parent, losing Kip, losing my entire support system. My daughter and I literally lost everything. Our home, our belongings, his belongings. And on top of that, I was and am still currently battling depression and PTSD because of what I had witnessed and experienced. Although, I am doing much better now. About a week after he had passed, I had basically destroyed everything in my office out of pain and anger. I destroyed pictures, one of my cutting machines, my computer (my office is at my mother’s house).

Then I fell to my knees begging God and begging Kip to give me answers. Why? How? How do I do this? How do I keep going? Am I supposed to keep doing this business? How am I supposed to support my tiny family on such a small income?

I remember crying myself to sleep on my office floor and waking up to my phone making the cash register sound “cha-ching” “cha-ching.”

It literally just kept going off until I finally realized what it was. It was my Etsy app. And everytime their is a purchase it makes that sound. I looked on my Etsy account and out of no where, orders were rolling in. And in a span of 24 hours, my Etsy shop had brought in enough income to pay a months worth of bills. I took that as me getting my answers.

I am extremely passionate about what I do. All of the things that have happened this past year are what have made me and my business a success.

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During our recording we discussed a few products and you can see them below here:

This blog post is part of the Suicide Prevention Awareness Month blog tour in partnership with Debt Drop. If you are feeling suicidal, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text HOME to 741741.

Three weeks ago I sat down to speak with my friend Eric Nisall, from Account Lancer. One of the greatest things about Eric lies in the fact he never holds back his bold and honest opinion. There’s nothing I or you will (or should) be able to do to hold him back. It’s this brash and honest mindset that so many of us in marketing and the entrepreneurship world hold ourselves back from doing.

In this episode Eric holds no bars and releases his true opinion on the entrepreneurship world. In short, he’s not a fan of the word, in length, listen to the podcast. Catch an audible glimpse into the mind of a guy bent on producing honest moments daily.

Born and brought up in the wild dance of life that is South East Asia, the daily chaos of creativity has allowed Nora to be a multi-passionate female entrepreneur. She is a a visual designer, a dancer, a yogi, a creative problem solver, a photographer and global gypsy.

Nora loves sharing biz tips + life hacks to inspire other women to live the life they love by showing them how easy it can be to start living the lives they always wanted to.

Nora currently is just launching her newest thriving (and third) online business – The Photo Forest – the first community driven stock photography membership site where members can request the type of photos they need. Her favorite motto and what drives her forward into creating the life she loves is…”if not now, then when?”

3 things that make her happy – creating large mandalas with flower petals, sitting in morning meditation and doing anything that involves having beauty, creativity and a bit of adventure!

Ashley was 8 months pregnant when her ex-husband left her. She planned to be a stay at home mom and freelance as a hobby. But with a divorce and baby on it’s way and needing to bring home the bacon, she turned her hobby into a career.

Like me, she has a young son, and it took her three years to rise above the poverty line and be the mom she really wanted to be. What’s more – she did it debt free.

Since then, she’s remarried, has added another baby, and continues to scale her business so she can do more while working fewer hours. Listen in as we talk about the dark time in her life, lessons learned, and the entire scope of mindset, freelancing, being a work-at-home mom, and even personal finance.

Uncover what happened and how she became the accomplished woman she is today.